SUPER BOWL XXV: THE GAME

SUPER BOWL XXV: THE GAME; Giants Win

By FRANK LITSKY, Special to The New York Times

Published: January 28, 1991

TAMPA, Fla., Jan. 27—
Last Sunday, the Giants got to Super Bowl XXV with a field goal on the final play of the game. Today, they won the Super Bowl when the Buffalo Bills missed a 47-yard field-goal attempt with four seconds left.

When the kick by Scott Norwood sailed wide to the right, the Giants were assured of a 20-19 victory and their second Super Bowl triumph in five seasons.

It was an exciting ending to the closest Super Bowl ever. It was a game of old-fashioned, in-your-face running by the Giants, who rushed for 172 yards. It was a game of finesse running by the Bills, who rushed for 166 yards. It was a game of big plays and deep thinking. Giants Use Unusual Defenses

The Giants knew they could not completely stop the Bills' dangerous no-huddle offense. Their defensive plan was to stop the big plays, and they at least minimized them with novel defensive variations. They started the game in a 2-3-6 (two defensive linemen, three linebackers and six defensive backs) and switched early to a 2-4-5.

More so than ever, their offensive plan was to control the ball, to eat up yards and, at the same time, keep the ball from the Bills. That worked so well that the Giants had the ball for 40 minutes 33 seconds to the Bills' 19 minutes 27 seconds. No team had ever held the ball so long in a Super Bowl.

"We knew we could put points on the board and control the clock," said Ottis Anderson, one of the Giants' heroes.

That ball control depended on the passing and scrambling of Jeff Hostetler, a backup quarterback until five weeks ago, and the running of Anderson, at age 34 the oldest starting running back in the National Football League. Both made the big plays when they had to. Anderson Named M.V.P.

Anderson rushed 21 times for 102 yards. That included runs of 24 and 18 yards with quickness that would have done a young buck proud. It also included a 1-yard run for the Giants' second touchdown.

Anderson won the first Pete Rozelle Trophy as the Super Bowl's most valuable player. He received seven and a half votes to four and a half for Hostetler, one for Dave Meggett, the Giants running back, and one for Thurman Thomas of the Bills, who rushed 15 times for 135 yards. Hostetler passed bravely and, when he had the protection, accurately. He completed 20 of 32 for 222 yards and the Giants' first touchdown, a 14-yarder to Stephen Baker on a play called Back Green X Flag.

Hostetler was sacked twice, once for a safety by Bruce Smith, the Bills' superb defensive end. Smith was in Hostetler's face all day and decked him several times.

Hostetler survived it all. He was the Giants' quarterback only because Phil Simms suffered a severely sprained right foot six weeks ago against the Bills.

The Bills won that game, 17-13, at Giants Stadium. That was part of the reason they were favored here by 7 points.

The nonfootball aspects of this Super Bowl festival were most unusual. Because of the war in the Persian Gulf and fears of terrorism, security at Tampa Stadium was stringent. The 73,813 spectators were not allowed to bring in television sets, radios, cameras or even umbrellas. As it turned out, the umbrellas were not needed on this pleasant evening.

The Giants are the National Conference champions, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the local N.F.L. team, are in the National Conference. So it was not surprising that the crowd seemed heavily in favor of the Giants. Parcells Sees Divine Help

According to Coach Bill Parcells, the Giants has support from a higher authority.

"I realized a long time ago," Parcells said, "that God was playing in some of these games. He was on our side today. We played as well as we could. If we played tomorrow, they would probably win, 20-19."

They are not playing Monday. Both teams played enough good football today.

The pattern of the game was predictable. In the Bills' no-huddle offense, Jim Kelly, the quarterback, would call the play as the Bills walked to the line of scrimmage.

The Bills used three wide receivers most of the day. That lineup lends itself to big plays. But because of that feast-or-famine potential, the Bills' scoring drives take up little time, in this case 1 minute 23 seconds, 4:27 and 1:27.

On the other hand, the Giants push and shove and crank out and persevere and take up time as they grind out yardage. Their scoring drives ran off 6 minutes 15 seconds, 3:24, 9:29 (a Super Bowl record) and 7:32.

Their theory is that the other team cannot score when they have the ball. Except for Hostetler's safety it held up.

Coach Marv Levy of the Bills praised the Giants' offense and the way it mixed the run and the pass so well.

"It's tough to beat a team with a very good running game and a very good defense," Levy said. "We came close, but not close enough."

One key for the Giants was their 87-yard drive that resulted in a touchdown with 25 seconds left in the first half. At halftime, Parcells had a message for his players.

"I told them," Parcells said, "that basically I was at a Super Bowl five years ago and some of you guys were with me and we were in the exact same situation as we are now.

"I told them the first drive of the third quarter was the most important of the game. We had to do something with it." Big, Big Plays

They did. They started the second half with a fragile 75-yard drive. Four times on that drive, the Giants faced third downs. Four times they converted.

On third down and 8 yards to go, Hostetler passed 4 yards to Meggett. The 5-foot-7-inch running back squirmed through two defenders and turned the play into an 11-yard gain.

Three plays later, on third-and-1, with the Bills' defense pinching in, Anderson sprinted around left end for 24 yards.

Three plays later, on third-and-13, Hostetler passed to Mark Ingram. The wide receiver slipped two tacklers, stretched out his arms when hit and gained 14 yards.